Weapons located in waterways, such as underwater mines or munitions which have been sunk, represent a potential danger for marine navigation and the environment. Such weapons are often still located in waterways decades after hostile action. There is, therefore, a need for efficient, cost-effective and safe clearance of such weapons.
Various methods have been conventionally used for clearing such weapons.
A technically uncomplicated but dangerous method for weapon clearance provides for divers to dive down to the corresponding weapon object(s) and to attach a clearance charge manually to the objects in order to detonate the objects. However, on the one hand, this method is dangerous for the diver as he comes directly into contact with the weapon. On the other hand, the use of divers is limited to the maximum diving depth of a diver. Weapons which are located at a deeper level are, therefore, not able to be cleared in this manner.
A further method provides for a clearance charge to be deposited by means of an unmanned underwater vehicle in the region of the weapon object, by means of a manipulator attached to the underwater vehicle. However, this attachment requires clearance charges using high amounts of explosives in order to be able to dispose of the weapon effectively. Often, a single clearance charge already has 30 to 100 kg of explosives which the underwater vehicle has to transport to the weapon and deposit there. Such a large mass of explosive, however, has the following drawbacks.
One the one hand, such a high mass requires complex trimming devices on the underwater vehicle as, after depositing the clearance charge, the trimming of the underwater vehicle is permanently affected. This has the result that the design of the underwater vehicle also has to be correspondingly large and complex. As a result, this increases the cost not only of the underwater vehicle but also of various additional devices, such as for example cranes and storage surfaces provided on board a mother vessel, i.e. the facilities for accommodating equipment on board the mother vessel also have to have correspondingly large dimensions.
On the other hand, such large quantities of explosive material are extremely dangerous, as even with a small number of clearance charges, very large amounts of explosive material have to be loaded on board the mother vessel. This involves particularly stringent safety precautions which significantly increase the costs of the weapon clearance operations.
According to a further method, unmanned underwater vehicles are used as mine destruction drones, such as for example the unmanned underwater vehicles marketed by the applicant under the trade name “Seefuchs” and/or “Seafox”. In such mine destruction drones, shaped charges are fitted with only a small amount of explosive material, for example one to two kilograms. For mine destruction and/or general weapon disposal, the mine destruction drone is moved directly adjacent to the object to be destroyed. The shaped charge is then fired within the underwater vehicle, the underwater vehicle being detonated together with the object. This method is highly efficient and also requires only a small amount of explosive material. However, the method is costly as an underwater vehicle is lost with each use.
In view of the above, the object of the invention is to make the weapon clearance under water cheaper, but without substantially increasing the amount of explosive material required.